The drive from DC to Chesapeake (Great Bridge, specifically), usually takes somewhere around 4 hours, give or take a bit, depending on wind speed, police presence, etc. Today it took 6 hours.
Six. Hours.
There had been some sort of accident north of Richmond, so it took me four hours to get to Richmond itself. When we passed the spot where the accident had occurred, of course there was no sign of the accident itself, we were simply experiencing the aftermath of the original slow down, which is probably still inflicting itself upon the poor fools stuck driving on I-95 this evening.
The worst was the constant signs from the Ever-helpful folks at VDOT who told us “Accident X Miles Ahead; Expect Major Delays; Consider Alternate Routes”. The alternate route I considered was an expanded and decent rail system that would actually get me all the way down into Chesapeake, but alas, that is not to be. It would have been a bit more helpful if, say, they’d had VDOT or VSP officials out waiving folks along to keep them moving past the accident site and avoided the slow down entirely, but of course, that would be useful. Or if they’d actually suggested what some alternate routes might be, instead of leaving us with no idea how to hop off and get around the mess on the highway.
(I did call my parents and asked for alternate routes, but the one would have had me incredibly out of the way and the other only intersected with the highway where the accident site was, making it not terribly useful)
Now I remember why I don’t drive. I’m sorely tempted next time, even though it will add to the overall time of the trip, to take the train down to the Peninsula and rent a car there rather than have to drive all the way down and up on 95 again. Gah.
I was a tad worried this morning about the race tomorrow, my ankle started to bother me after all the walking yesterday, but it appears to be fine this evening. The 6 hours of rest in the car helped it, no doubt. Crashed out in the motor home this time so I have a real bed on which to sleep before the race tomorrow. Phone’s set to play reveille at 5 am, we’re getting to the race site at 7. 1,500 racers are registered. It’s a flat out and back, so should be good. Looking forward to dropping back down to shorter distances for the immediate future after this, too. I’ll be back up there in September for this fall’s big race, but in the meantime I want some time down to focus on biking.